Gent
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Gent is an almost blind male, very handsome and gentle, blue merle Border Collie between 7-9 years old. He is heartworm negative, vaccinated, dewormed, neutered and microchipped. He was on antibiotics for 4 weeks due to a positive screening test for ehrlichia (a tick bourne disease). His blood work is now perfectly normal.
It's been my joy to care for him since late Oct. I've seen him morph from somewhat unsure to highly confident and happy in his surroundings, despite his visual impairment.
Gent has a little vision in his right eye, but will eventually lose that also. His blindness does not seem to intimidate him. He learned his way around the house, including steps, very quickly with a little guidance with a leash and consistent words of instruction, such as "up" or "down".He's doing well with the "sit" and "crate" commands, but by far, his favorite command is "snuggle".
Gent has done exceptionally well with housetraining, though I still crate him when I'm away for a few hours. In all this time he has had only one accident in his crate. He rarely barks, but I do believe he would bark in warning once he felt he was home.
Gent gets along peaceably with my own 3 dogs and 2 cats. He gets his ears boxed regularly by Jude kitty and tries to keep his distance. He is somewhat enamored of sweet Maggie kitty, much to her disgust. My first preference would be a home without cats, though, on the off chance his interest would ever escalate to some aggression. It's also possible his fascination with cats could interfere with more appropriate family bonding.
Very young children, or children who do not/cannot understand Gent's limitations, would not be a good idea.
While he's happy to co-exist with my other animals, he does not like my dogs in his face or to approach him while he's eating or munching a chew. He has maintained his good nature when I've taken away an item in his mouth and he wags his tail if I pet him while he eats.
Gent is very bright and eager to please. Because of his disability, it will take a commitment on the part of his new family to find ways to safely challenge and engage his intellect to keep him well adjusted long term in his new life. He loves his walks in the park and gets very excited when I join him in the back yard. I think he would love to learn how to play games. I've just found a rubber ball that makes noises and will experiment with fetching games. He's very well-behaved in the car and can get in and out on his own with a little guidance. If his new family is interested in having a *HABIT dog, I believe he would not only qualify, but enjoy it immensely.
I believe Gent will be a superb companion for a relatively low key family that loves Borders, but is not up to their typical intensity and drive.
Our goal is to find the very best situation for this wonderful and loving boy. We would need to have at least 2-3 meetings together with Gent to ensure his family's comfort level with his disability and Gent's familiarity with his new surroundings before making the break with his home here.
*HABIT (Human Animal Bond in Tennessee) is the organization here in Knoxville that trains volunteers and evaluates participating pets to visit various facilities as therapy for patients in nursing homes, etc.
CONTACT INFORMATION: For more information about this dog, please contact Reenee.
LOCATION: This adoptable dog is located in Knoxville, TN.
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Please note that as a policy ETBCR does not place puppies in families with children under 6 years of age, as border collies and border collie mixes can be very reactive to the movements of small children.
Prior to or upon adoption, all dogs in our rescue program are spayed/neutered (there are NO exceptions), fully vaccinated, heartworm negative, started on heartworm prevention, treated with flea and tick preventive, microchipped, and temperament tested. We also strive to crate and house train each dog before placement.